Aspect Ratio Overkill: Questions and Answers, Rants, Too Much Information!
More more more about aspect ratio!
Here's more detail on specific aspect ratio problems, as well as information and opinions on a few interesting phenomena I've witnessed among some fan videos.
Fair warning, I may sound a little strident (well, more than usual) at times. And I do carry on, and on! But for the most part, I'll be trying to make things more understandable, and help you pinpoint the problem and find the solution.
As the title says, this will involve OVERKILL! Meaning, I'll over-explain some concepts. It seems like a brief overview isn't always a sufficient explanation. So I'm going above and beyond!
An important thing to remember before reading this page: Don't feel bad if you've been having aspect ratio troubles. It's very common. (That's why I wrote this page!) You're not alone. It happens to many good vidders. You're not a bad vidder or lack talent if you have messed up in this area. Don't worry—if you want to get your videos looking right, you will!
This page is long and is separated into several sections. Each section can be reached quickly by clicking on the links provided below.
ASPECT RATIO IN A NUTSHELL. An overview of the basics of aspect ratio. It's not hard!
Common problems, solutions, and explanations. What went wrong, and how to fix it.
Why is it doing this anyway? Why does aspect ratio get messed up so frequently in fan videos?
"I don't see it" Learn how to train your eye to recognize aspect ratio problems.
"My videos look fine." Are you sure? You may be a fabulous, award-winning vidder, and still get it messed up.
"What's the big deal? Why should I care? It's not bothering me" If you're apathetic about it, or just don't see why you should bother . . .
Using a mask (or cropping) to make your video widescreen. Is this a fix? Does it correct bad aspect ratio?
Need more answers? So, how do you configure your video editing software so it'll get the right aspect ratio?
ASPECT RATIO IN A NUTSHELL
As mentioned in the "Aspect Ratio 101" tutorial, most films and shows come in three aspect ratios. However, your DVD or TV recording can only have one of two aspect ratios.
Here they are again. Fullscreen (4:3) aspect ratio has a more square "boxy" frame size. Widescreen (16:9 or 2.35:1) is more rectangular or wide. So, we've got three main aspect ratios: 4:3 (fullscreen), 16:9 (widescreen), and 2.35:1 (even wider screen). But DVDs and TV (or DVR, DVD-R) recordings only come in two ratios: Fullscreen (4:3) and widescreen (16:9). The even wider screen (2.35:1) is just fitted into the 16:9 frame by adding black bars at the top and bottom.
There are other aspect ratios that are a teensy bit different, but all that happens is that they are padded out to fit into one of the two main aspect ratios for DVD and TV: Black bars are added to the top, bottom or sides as needed, and the end result is the same: The DVD or TV (or DVR, DVD-R) recording is going to be 16:9, or 4:3.
So in a nutshell, we're only dealing with fullscreen or widescreen. 4:3 or 16:9. That's it. Two sets of dimensions. It shouldn't be hard to identify them when we're making videos and get them right. The reason why some vidders get them wrong are:
- They're not looking at the frame dimensions—they don't even know what that is, and so don't know how to adjust for it.
- They pick up clips hither and yon on the Internet, from all sorts of weird sources, and the clips may already be squished, stretched or distorted, and will be in a variety of frame sizes. The clips may have had their black letterbox bars trimmed away (remember, this is what keeps them fitting into either 4:3 or 16:9) so now they're some whacked aspect ratio that won't mesh with any more "standard" sized clips. These vidders then patch everything all together in a video, and of course things start looking wrong. You'd might call these kinds of videos "Frankenstein" videos, because they've got so many different parts, and none of them quite match up properly.
The way to avoid this problem is simple. Try to rip clips from DVDs as much as possible. Look at your DVD's video picture to determine what aspect ratio is. If the frame size (with letterbox included) is "boxy," then it's 4:3. If it's wider and more rectangular, it's 16:9 fullscreen. Consult the Aspect Ratio 101 page for more information on how to set your video editing software correctly for aspect ratio. The tutorials here show you how to do that.
Common problems, solutions, and explanations
Problem #1, and by far the most common: The finished video looks too elongated and narrow. This most frequently happens with 16:9 (widescreen) clips, which are erroneously saved as fullscreen (4:3). The reason this happens is that many video editing programs (like Windows Movie Maker) automatically are set to export all video out as fullscreen. The software settings must be manually set to widescreen (16:9).
The way it's supposed to look: 16:9 widescreen. |
Squished out: Saved as 4:3 fullscreen instead. |
SOLUTION: Save the video out of your editor as 16:9. The tutorials here show you how to do that. Common 16:9 frame sizes are 768x432 pixels, or 640x360.
Problem #2: Super-squished. The screenshots below show what happens when either the vidder gets the great idea to trim off the letterbox bars on their clips as they're ripping them from the DVD (NEVER do this! NEVER!) or they downloaded the clips from the Internet, and the letterbox was trimmed off. They edit their video with these trimmed clips, and export out at fullscreen or 4:3.
Squished beyond belief: A 2.35:1 clip, with the black letterbox bars trimmed off, saved as 4:3. No one can seriously think this looks good. Can they? |
Back to 2.35:1 aspect ratio. See the difference? |
SOLUTION: Avoid using trimmed clips. DO NOT EVER trim your DVD footage like this. (Always leave the letterbox bars intact. You can trim them off when you have completed the video.) If you feel you must use trimmed clips, know what you're doing and export the finished video out at proper 2.35:1 aspect ratio. And by all that is holy, DO NOT mix these sort of "trimmed" clips with regular 16:9 or 4:3 clips. You'll end up with one of those "Frankenstein" videos where nothing fits right—squished, squashed, normal, and back again. Horrors!
Problem #3: Everyone looks squashed down. A fullscreen video was saved as widescreen.
The way he's supposed to look: 4:3 fullscreen. |
Fat face: Saved as 16:9 widescreen. |
SOLUTION: Export video as 4:3 fullscreen. Common 4:3 frame sizes are 768x576 pixels, or 640x480.
Problem #4: Everyone looks squashed down (again), but the video picture by itself is 16:9.
How does this happen? Well, the video is 16:9, but it's got black letterbox bars on the top and bottom, padding it so it's 4:3. (Can also happen with 2.35:1 footage with letterbox bars making it 4:3. Most frequently happens with older DVDs or recordings off the TV. Or, it may happen if you set up your video project as 4:3 when all your clips are 16:9.)
The video picture is 16:9, but those black letterbox bars make the finished video 4:3. |
Squashed face again. It can't all fit in the 16:9 frame! The black letterbox bars need room too. |
SOLUTION: Save video as 4:3. Common 4:3 frame sizes are 768x576 pixels, or 640x480.
Problem #5: It's sort of squished. Or, you can't really see it, but others are telling you that it doesn't look right. You just exported it out of Vegas (or Premiere, or whatever) using the software presets. That's what you're supposed to do, right? What's going on?
A clip with widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio. It has the frame size of 720x406 pixels.
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Your video editing software saved it as 720x480, which is a standard frame size for professional video. But looks too long and narrow for fan videos, and does not fit the 16:9 frame. |
SOLUTION: DO NOT TRUST YOUR SOFTWARE'S PRESETS. They're usually wrong for fan videos that are going to be shared on the web. Go into the "Advanced" options in your video editing software (sometimes seen as an "options" button as you are getting ready to export your video) and make sure to type in or select a true 16:9 (or 4:3, if your video is supposed to be fullscreen) aspect ratio. If there is an option to set the PIXEL ASPECT RATIO, make sure it is set to "square" or "pixel aspect ratio: 1.000."
Problem #5a
Same as above, but applied to a 4:3 fullscreen clip that is exported out at the default 720x480 instead of the proper 640x480. The result is that the face is squashed down and too fat.
 Normal-looking at 4x3 aspect ratio, 640x480 pixels. |
 Stretched out and fattened face when saved at 720x480. |
Problem #5b
Same as above, but applied to a 16:9 video which is saved with letterboxing (making the total frame size fullscreen). Some people may not notice this unless it is pointed out to them, but as you can see from the screenshots below, the difference is not minor—the incorrect frame size makes the faces definitely "fatter" and more squashed down.
 A normal-looking 16:9 clip, with lettebox bars added, making the finished video fit into 4:3. Saved at the correct frame size of 640x480 (or 768x576 if you prefer). |
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It can't be repeated enough: DO NOT TRUST YOUR SOFTWARE'S DEFAULT EXPORT SETTINGS. They'll often try to export at 720x480, which squashes down the picture, or stretches it and "squishes" it. And always remember, when you export your video, look for the setting for PIXEL ASPECT RATIO, and select "square" or "Pixel aspect ratio 1.000."
Why do fan videos get messed up aspect ratio so much? Why are we having this problem?
First, the technical reason: Non-square pixels. If you want to read the long, rambly explanation of non-square pixels, visit this thread on the Foolish Passion Fan Video Forums (free membership required).
A shorter explanation is this: DVD files (VOB files) use non-square pixels, but most video on the Internet (and that we view on our computer monitors) use square pixels. Some media players and video encoding or editing software know what to do with non-square pixels, and they'll stretch them out, so the video looks normal (and not squished) to our eyes. But other software doesn't "unsquish" the non-square pixel video, and so we see squished. And if we don't fix the squish when we are making our video, the video may remain squished.
Normal and squished, side-by-side.
The picture on the right is how your finished video may end up looking if you don't adjust the frame dimensions somewhere along the line. The picture on the left is how the picture is supposed to look—unsquished and normal!
The lesson here is, you can't do nothing to your footage and say, "That's the way it is." If your encoding software (the program you used to convert your DVD files to MOV or AVI files for editing) doesn't automatically "unsquish" the clips for you (and most software won't) then you must do it yourself, manually. The tutorials here (and on the Foolish Passion Forums) show you how.
Other reasons for aspect ratio problems are:
- Not being aware that the video must be exported out of the editor with settings that match the source video. If the DVD is 16:9 widescreen, then the finished fan video must also be 16:9, and so forth and so on.
- Finding any old strange clip on the Internet, and using it in the video, with no regard to its aspect ratio, whether it's had letterbox bars trimmed off, or whatever. Not ripping/converting the clips from the DVD consistently.
- Ignorance on how to fix it, or not aware that it's a problem.
- They know it's a problem, but so what? They're such an awesome vidder, everyone will overlook the fact that it's squashed or squished, won't they? (LOL.)
"I don't see it."
Some people are less sensitive to aspect ratio or proportions, so it won't bother them if their video is a little squashed or squished. But, it's still important to get it right, because the actors in the video have only one set of facial proportions! There will always be those in the vidder's audience who will instantly see that something doesn't look right. Even a small child is capable of noticing when a picture looks "squished." (I always could.)
So, how to train your eye to recognize it? First, do the basics: Look at the frame dimensions of the video itself. As we've talked about here, 4:3 fullscreen has a "boxier" frame, while widescreen 16:9 is more rectangular or "wider."
Also, start looking at the faces of the people in the video more carefully. Start comparing them to the way you know the actors should look. Are their faces fatter or skinnier than they should be? Do a side-by-side comparison if you need to.
Normal and squished comparison.
If you look carefully at these two screenshots, you'll see that one of the faces is definitely longer and narrower than the other. The picture on the left is the "unsquished" one.
The overall face shape is longer in the squished clip.
If you have to, draw over the faces (either do a print-out or open screenshots in Photoshop) and see how the face shape matches up. The "squished" clip has a longer, skinnier oval. The nose is longer. The eyes are closer together, and the shape of the eyes is slightly rounder (not as almond-shaped). The chin is longer. Everything is longer and narrower and, well. . . distorted!
(Yes, I said I'd do overkill, didn't I? Well, here you go!)
Once you start looking—really looking—you'll train your eye to see the difference. It might take a few weeks, a few months, but pretty soon you'll not be able to stop yourself from noticing proportions in everything. (And think of it this way—if you saw one of your friends or co-workers walking down the street, and their facial features were suddenly 15-20% longer than the day before, don't you think you'd notice? Yeah, you would! So use that same level of observation in your vidding work as well.)
"My videos look fine."
Maybe they do, maybe they don't. I've encountered more than a few vidders who honestly had no idea that their videos were squished or squashed. Just because you are a popular or award-winning vidder, it doesn't mean you're not messing it up. It happens a lot! Not all your viewers are going to tell you. Not all of them know what aspect ratio is called (only they can sense something is "off"). Or maybe some of them have mentioned something in the past, but you didn't quite understand what they were getting at.
Don't assume you're getting it right just because you don't notice anything, and no one's said much to you about it. Review how your videos look, do side-by-side comparisons (like shown in the entry above), and take special care to identify your DVD footage's aspect ratio and make sure your videos match up.
"What's the big deal? Why should I care? It's not bothering me."
(Warning: Strident rant follows.)
Most vidders want to get their work to have the correct aspect ratio, once they understand what it is, and why they should fix it. Even if looking at video with aspect ratio problems doesn't bother them all that much personally, they know it's a good thing to get correctly, for the sake of those in the audience who do notice. (And that's not an insignificant number.) After all, the original DVD, TV show or film is not distorted, so why shouldn't their videos be the same way?
Yet, some vidders apparently believe that they needn't bother with this detail. Perhaps they're so lazy that they think we won't notice? (A clue, we notice. Even when you mask or crop off your video so it has a similar frame size to 16:9, if the underlying picture is still squished, we can still see it.) Or, they're so arrogant that they truly believe that we'll overlook the distorted (sometimes hideously so) picture, because they're such an awesome vidder? I don't understand it.
In the professional world, it's a big deal to get something so basic as aspect ratio set correctly. A video editor—even a phenomenally talented one—would soon be out of a job if he or she repeatedly delivered distorted video to clients. The reason for this is that it is so basic and fundamental. As mentioned before, even some small children can tell when a video looks funny, elongated or squashed.
So, to answer the question about why you should care? If you want more of your audience to enjoy your videos, you'll care. If you don't want a lot of your audience wondering why you keep on producing weird-looking and misshapen videos, you'll care.
Using a mask (or cropping) to force a video to be widescreen (16:9) frame size. Does this work?
No. It's a weird workaround that most decidedly does not work. It's like dousing yourself with perfume, rather than taking a bath. It isn't fixing the real problem, and isn't fooling anyone who is paying attention.
- Problem: Video clip is squished (elongated). It needs to be widescreen 16:9, but it's stretched out so it's fullscreen (4:3).
- Solution A: Mask the clip, so now it appears to fit the widescreen 16:9 frame size, by cropping off part of the picture, or masking it off. Do nothing to fix the underlying problem (elongated, squished clip).
- Solution B: Adjust the settings on the clip (sometimes this means re-encoding it if possible, or manually adjusting the aspect ratio in the video editing software) so the clip is returned to its intended dimensions (16:9) and the face is no longer elongated.
Some vidders apparently think that Solution A (masking off or cropping) is a good enough fix, and that now the video looks better. No, it doesn't. The picture is still distorted, and cropping or masking doesn't change that distortion.
Problem: Jumping borders and aspect ratio issues (some clips widescreen, some widescreen clips squished to fill fullscreen).
These two pictures represent two clips in an editing timeline. The picture on the left looks normal, and is also a more widescreen frame dimension (there are letterbox bars on the top and bottom). The picture on the right represents a clip that was supposed to be widescreen, but it's been elongated and stretched out, so it fits the fullscreen frame dimensions. When viewing a video with these two clips in the timeline, there will be "jumping borders," meaning, the one clip will have letterbox, and the other won't, and the flow of the video will be disjointed because of it.
Solution A: Add a mask to crop off the squished video clip, so its border matches the non-squished (widescreen) clip.
What is the purpose of this? You have enough awareness of detail to be bothered by the jumping, uneven letterbox borders, but you'll keep the picture itself distorted and squished? If you're going to the trouble of fixing the border issue, why not kill two birds with one stone, and correct the distorted clip? Fixing it will automatically correct the border problems too.
Solution B: "Unsquish" the clip (this can be done in almost all major consumer-level or pro video programs, by manually adjusting aspect ratio settings or motion settings). Or, prepare the source clip properly so it doesn't import into the editor looking squished. The clip looks right again (not distorted) because it's been restored to its natural widescreen dimensions. Its border will now match up with the other (normal) widescreen clip, and as a result, there will no longer be an inconsistent, jumping border!
Need more answers? Step-by-Step tutorials to show you how to save your video with the correct aspect ratio?
Need more specific answers and solutions? Follow the tutorials on this site, but also check out my tutorials (covering the most popular software used by vidders—Sony Vegas, Final Cut, iMovie, Adobe Premiere Elements and Ulead VideoStudio) on the Foolish Passion Fan Video Forums. (Free membership required for access to some tutorials.)